Neighborly Assistance
by Nerdalieee
Summary: When Matthew finds a spider in the shower of his dorm room, what else is he to do but ask his next-door neighbor to help him out?
Matthew shut his psychology 101 book with a defeated sigh. He'd just reread the same sentence over and over again, and he just couldn't comprehend it. It was currently only 6:00 PM, but he'd stayed up until 4 am and then had an 8 am class that went until his 12 pm class; needless to say he was exhausted. But if he didn't read these chapters now, he knew he would just put them off until it was too late and he'd actually have to stay up all. Night.

He looked toward where his roommate's bed was; disheveled and messy, but to be fair, the boy had slept in late and was going to miss his favorite class if he didn't jump out of bed. He'd been kept awake by matthews almost all nighter, a fact Matthew felt horrible about (he made a mental note to give him a few boxes of tea for forgiveness). Arthur, a british man only a year older than him, had back to back classes on Thursdays, as well as a tutoring job after them.

His roommate didn't normally leave his bed so messy, and Matthew knew this was his fault. He stood to fix the bed, but first, he stretched and yawned.

 _Oh man_ , he thought. _I'm more tired than I thought…_

He briefly glanced at the shower and sighed. How he longed for a nice, big tub to lay in, surrounded by warm water and bubbles and maybe soft music or a movie playing on his laptop. He loved to do that at home, but being in a dorm room had its disadvantages.

Matthew decided to settle for a shower to, hopefully, wake himself up, before he could even think of touching arthur's sheets (he was afraid he'd fall asleep in his bed).

Matthew grabs a set of pajamas and a towel and opens the door to their private bathroom. He was lucky enough to have picked a school with private bathrooms and he couldn't be more elated - Arthur talked nonstop about the gross shared bathrooms he had at his previous college. Matthew shuddered at the thought and briefly reveled in the fact that he didn't have to wear shower shoes.

Matthew set his things down and turned on the shower, letting it warm up. He undressed quickly and, when the shower was deemed warm enough, he stepped in.

Sighing as the warm water hit his skin, Matthew congratulate himself on such a good idea. A shower was the perfect pick me up, and after he was done he'd be ready to tackle cognitive neuroscience or whatever it was he was supposed to be reading.

Now, Matthew prided himself on not being afraid of many things. He found heights exhilarating, loved snakes and other slimy creatures alike, but there were a few things in this world that he was deathly afraid of, and the list is as follows: spiders, spiders, and spiders.

So, of course it stands to reason that, as Matthew was leaning into the warm waters of the shower, feeling the knots in his back loosen up and the tension he was holding relax after weeks of studying, he would look up and see the one thing in the whole world he couldn't stand:

A spider.

Matthew held in a terrible shriek as he jumped out of the shower, his heart pounding. He glanced at his phone and, with a devastated sigh, realized that Arthur wouldn't be home for another hour. He would either have to wait for him to come home, or take care of it himself.

Maybe his neighbors were home…

Matthew quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door. He headed out to the hallway and stood in front of the door labeled 203 for about 30 seconds, contemplating. Eventually he decided he would have to take a leap of faith.

Knocking on the door in front of him, Matthew held his breath and his towel a bit tighter. The door opened, revealing a man of similar height, striking red eyes, and stark white hair. He stared at Matthew for a second, his eyes slowly glancing down to the towel that Matthew gripped as if it might fall at any second, before looking back up at matthew. And then his lips stretched out into a grin.

"Hello." He said, still smiling. Matthew cleared his throat.

"Matthew." Matt says, carefully extending a hand. The man shakes it and chuckled.

"Gilbert."

Matthew sighed and began to try and explain as quickly as he could.

"Look, I need your help," matthew started, wincing as the grin on the other man;s face stretched wider. "There's… ah, this sounds so stupid… there's a spider in my bathroom."

Gilbert remained silent, though his grin faltered.

"Okay…" he said slowly, and Matthew took this as a signal to explain further.

"A-and my roommate is at work, so… so I need someone to kill it." Matthew says, then clears his throat. "I need _you_ to kill it. Please." He adds. The red eyes become mischievous as he begins to talk again.

"So, you came to me, without your clothes, water dripping off of your sculpted chest, in only a towel, to ask me to kill a spider, that is currently in your bathroom?"

"Yes." Matthew responses simply, choosing to ignore the subtle compliment. He didn't see the big problem with that - it wasn't like…

"Oh, god. No," he said, shaking his head. "It isn't sexual. There's literally a spider in my bathroom. It's huge."

"I'm sure it is," the man said with a smirk as he leaned against the doorframe. Matthew chose to ignore how attractive Gilbert looked as he smirked at Matthew and eyed him up like he was a piece of candy.

"No, I'm serious, with 8 legs and everything."

"I bet you say that to all the girls." The man places a hand to his chest, his eyelashes fluttering as if he were a forty year old Texan woman, before chuckling. "Okay, I'll kill the spider, but do I get a reward?"

Matthew rolls his eyes and sighs audibly.

"I'll probably shake your hand, thank you, and then spend the rest of my life avoiding you because I'm so utterly and completely embarrassed right now." He says honestly, making Gilbert snort.

"How about a date?"

Matthews mouth hangs open t o gape at the man before he shakes his head.

"Okay. I'll settle for a blowjob in your bathroom."

"Wh-" Matthews face is red and he's sputtering, even more embarrassed now.

"Maybe a nice handy?"

Matthews silent before he sighs.

"Y'know, maybe I'll just ask 209…" Matthew turns to leave but Gilbert grabs his arm.

"Wait no! He's french, he'll be even worse!" He sounds genuinely concerned, so Matthew stops and turns, though he grips the towel tighter. Gilbert sighs. "I was just kidding. Show me where the spider is."

Matthew sighs in relief and walks back into his dorm, Gilbert following close behind. He leads him to the bathroom, and frowns at what he finds.

No spider.

"Uh…" Matthew says as he moves bottles, pushes the curtain aside, trying to find the spider so he could shower in peace. "It was just here…"

"So this is a porno!" Gilbert shouts, grinning triumphantly. Matthew turns back to glare at him and Gilbert laughs. "Kidding."

Matthew sighs and looks nervously around the bathroom, trying to find where it could have gone. Gilbert watches him for a few moments before speaking up.

"I mean, it's gone now. You're fine, so I can leave, right…?" Matthew looks up, alarmed, but says nothing. The look of absolute fear makes Gilbert stop in his tracks. Still, Matthew stays silent, not wanting to admit that the fact that the spider has disappeared has now increased his fear by five thousand percent.

"Or… do you wanna come shower in my place…?" Gilbert offers, and still Matthew looks fearful. "I'll make sure it's spider free." Gil adds with a chuckle. Matthew takes a deep breath and nods.

"Yes, please. Thank you." Gilbert nods and is silent for a moment before he smirks again.

"Are you sure this isn't a porno opening?"

His answer is a swift shampoo bottle to the head.


End file.
